Well, today we went to the train show in Sprifield, MO. For over 60+ years of going to shows I have never won the door prize but today my 5 year old Grandson won at his 3rd show! What luck! So they handed him a nice Bachmann Canyon Chief tran set. Needless to say the 2 hour drive home was excruciatingly long for him.
By the time we got the car unloaded and got in the house he had opened it and had assembled the track, hooked up the wires and had the train running. Pretty impressive for a kid that had never seen a train set before. Unfortunately he earned a punishment for plugging the cord into the wall as it’s not allowed at 5.
The train operates extremely well, has KD clone couplers and the track with roadbed is very nice. I was surprised by the quality of everything it came with as I remember Bachmann toy trains from years ago.
So maybe we need to rethink our poor opinion of what Bachmann puts out in the non-Spectrum world?
Nice! thats a $142 set! Bachmann has come along way since the pancake motors of the 70’s. I have a few of the Bachmann Plus locos, and they run excellent, heavy, and very quiet. The Hawthorn Village series of various sets, from sports teams to movie stars, etc., uses the Bachmann Plus.
Roger, respectfully too many people still judge Bachmann based on products they sold in the 1980’s or before.
Bachmann has been on a steady program of higher quality across all its product lines for more than 20 years, while still holding down prices and offering beginners and those on a budget very nice entry level products, as well as offering a number of superb higher end items in the Spectrum line.
Bachmann On30 runs around my Christmas tree, the same set for 20 years now - zero problems - often operated by the grand children.
My five year old grandson has Thomas and Chuggington which run on HO track, zero issues.
My layout features a fleet of over 30 Bachmann steam locos, Spectrum and regular line, all great products.
Is every item perfect? Well can we say that about any brand?
Congrats on winning the door prize! I can imagine how excrutiating that trip home from the train show might have been for your grandson.
With most trainsets, per say, anything can run decently initially because the track is nice and shiny and the wheel pickups aren’t crammed full of carpet fuzz. Things might change once the track starts to oxidize and parts aren’t quite as pristine. I would agree that Bachmann’s products have gotten better since those earlier boxed sets.
Well, I’ve been away, basically, from Bachmann’s non-Spectrum stuff for many years. This set really impressed me a lot.
I have one of the early G scale Bachmann 4-6-0 train sets I bought at Sam’s maybe 30 years ago. I think it’s called the Rio Grande Special or something like that. It has an early 4-6-0 without valve gear but has smoke and 3 or 4 cars. It has run around the Christmas tree for all that time. I finally gave it to my Daughter when she had the lucky Grandson.
Its great that its working out so far. I have not really ever had that kind of luck before.
Are the KD clones metal or plastic? Plastic from the photos. Do they have coiled springs or plastic leaf springs? This cannot be determined from the photos on the internet. If leaf they will fail over time. Replace with actual Kadees as this happens (or before).
Is the roadbed black or grey? The set from menards shows black roadbed. Answered my own question. At some point you will need to replace the track due to rust causing intermittant contact with the rails. The rail is steel vice nickel silver, unless they have changed their brand. If I had a choice between steel track and brass track, I would choose brass track.
My experience has been mixed. I like some of their silver series rolling stock (log cars are well detailed if pricey). My only gripe with those is that they dont make their coupler pockets deep enough for easy replacement on some cars.
As far as locomotives go, I wish they would make 2-6-0s with slide valves and the 4-6-0s with piston valves. It seems that would be a relatively simple change to accomplish on their end.
Their customer service has been helpful. And they have had parts available for most things that I have needed to repair.
That having been said, Ive got a little over half a dozen Bachmann locomotives, all but one are steam, and most have given trouble free operation. 4 of them are the Sound-Value (red box) vareity. 1 diesel was the blue box version, and the others are all Spectrum. They pull decently and have good enough detail.
I have not had good luck with the Sound Value locos but the regular DCC on board have served me well except that the decoders have an annoying hum. As for the track I has noticed that the turnouts are a bit better than the used to be but i still perfer Atlas turnout.
Yes, a nice set. But not $142. A distributor says they are $77 list, and probably sells to vendors for maybe 20-30% less. We have a yearly raffle at the club where we give sets similar to this away.
But that’s just in the interest of setting reality. As long as the youngster enjoys it, that’s the important thing.
Overall its not bad. I suspect that it will probably last longer than the one I had did (well technically I still have that set somewhere, but not much is servicable).
Its great that its working out so far. I have not really ever had that kind of luck before.
oldline1
The train operates extremely well, has KD clone couplers and the track with roadbed is very nice.
Are the KD clones metal or plastic? Plastic from the photos. Do they have coiled springs or plastic leaf springs? This cannot be determined from the photos on the internet. If leaf they will fail over time. Replace with actual Kadees as this happens (or before).
Is the roadbed black or grey? The set from menards shows black roadbed. Answered my own question. At some point you will need to replace the track due to rust causing intermittant contact with the rails. The rail is steel vice nickel silver, unless they have changed their brand. If I had a choice between steel track and brass track, I would choose brass track.
oldline1
So maybe we need to rethink our poor opinion of what Bachmann puts out in the non-Spectrum world?
My experience has been mixed. I like some of their silver series rolling stock (log cars are well detailed if pricey). My only gripe with those is that they dont make their coupler pockets deep enough for easy replacement on some cars.
As far as locomotives go, I wish they would make 2-6-0s with slide valves and the 4-6-0s with piston valves. It seems that would be a relatively simple change to accomplish on their end.
Roger, don’t let the nay sayers get you down. A Bachmann train set with a 2-8-0, is the same 2-8-0 that came in that Spectrum box.
The F7 in the set, is the same as the seperately sold regular line F7, much improved from years ago, actually a very nice loco for its modest street price.
While some items are still partly based on older tooling, trucks, couplers, loco drives, have all been upgraded and have much more consistant quality than back in the “old days”.
I will admit, I am selective in buying Bachmann, mainly from a detail standpoint, not over any quality concerns.
But again, the Thomas and Chuggington stuff my grandson plays with has held up well to his little hands…
Its great that its working out so far. I have not really ever had that kind of luck before.
oldline1
The train operates extremely well, has KD clone couplers and the track with roadbed is very nice.
Are the KD clones metal or plastic? Plastic from the photos. Do they have coiled springs or plastic leaf springs? This cannot be determined from the photos on the internet. If leaf they will fail over time. Replace with actual Kadees as this happens (or before).
Is the roadbed black or grey? The set from menards shows black roadbed. Answered my own question. At some point you will need to replace the track due to rust causing intermittant contact with the rails. The rail is steel vice nickel silver, unless they have changed their brand. If I had a choice between steel track and brass track, I would choose brass track.
oldline1
So maybe we need to rethink our poor opinion of what Bachmann puts out in the non-Spectrum world?
My experience has been mixed. I like some of their silver series rolling stock (log cars are well detailed if pricey). My only gripe with those is that they dont make their coupler pockets deep enough for easy replacement on some cars.
As far as locomotives go, I wish they would make 2-6-0s with slide valves and the 4-6-0s with pisto
Well, Sheldon, it doesn’t bother me. I just remember that opinions are like…well…you know! I have plenty of my own too. lol
I consider myself a serious modeler having done it for 60+ years and had a custom painting & building business since 1973. I have quite a few Spectrum engines and Silver Series cars and they are excellent items for the money. I prefer my brass steamers to anything and truly appreciate where the hobby is as far as detailed & sophisticated equipment goes. I still have quite a few Varney plastic cars running with my Exact Rail and Fox Valley stuff.
My point was my Gradnson WON a nice train set that surprised me with the upgraded toy train equipment. He’s almost 6 and understood how to put it together and make it run by himself. Now…how long it will last…who knows but it’s already lasted way longer than anything I ever saw in a Tyco train set box, early Life Like or Bachmann so that impressed me.
He and his youger brother have had it spinning on the 36" circle since we got home at 4PM and no smoke, flames or broken gears. Not too bad to me! Cudos to Bachmann!